Windows/macOS/Linux/Android/iOS/Chrome/Firefox: The best VPNs encrypt your data and protect all of your communications from prying eyes. The best browser-based privacy tools keep you from being tracked behaviorally based on the sites you visit. Windscribe is a utility and service that does both in one package.

If you’re looking for one utility that packs in virtually every privacy tool you can think of, Windscribe is it. It combines a full VPN that will encrypt all of your communications with browser-based anti-tracking tools, and ad-blocker, and more (like secure link generators and a firewall, neither of which you’ll probably use, or really need, but they’re there.) The service is freemium, and allows you a single connection on a single device, 10GB of data transfer, and your choice of nine exit server countries before you’ll have to upgrade to Windscribe Pro which unlocks all of those limitations, at $9/mo or $90/yr. (You can see the differences between free and pro here.)

Pro users get exit servers in 25 countries, and can pay using Bitcoin if you really want untraceability. When I asked the team behind the service their approach to user privacy, they explained that like any good VPN, they only thing they log is bandwidth used per user to enforce free tier limitations, and that everything is above board in their privacy policy. Even an email address is optional when you create an account.

Best of all, the service does work like any VPN, and it doesn’t block specific protocols or destinations, so you can use it freely to either get around location restricted content, secure yourself on public or untrusted Wi-Fi networks, or share files securely. There are desktop versions of the app for Windows and macOS (pro users get access to OpenVPN configs for Linux), mobile versions for iOS and Android (only pro users get the Android app), and browser-based privacy tools for Chrome and Firefox (and a package for Opera.) Hit the link below to learn more.

I have the lifetime Windscribe package. Please be aware that many (all?) of their servers are now labeled as “Confirmed Proxy Server”s. Better than nothing as far as security goes, the system works as a lightweight, ‘super-easy to set up’ on your Windows computer package. The software and addons are fine. However, Windscribe is not designed for serious static-router setup people, it’s do-able with a lot of experience, (I use all Shibby Tomato based routers), but hardly worth the effort. For travelers: Do not count on Windscribe to allow access to Netflix USA servers from outside of the country, it doesn’t. And, don’t expect it to work from inside China (Hong Kong server access) for more than about 10 minutes.

I looked into it, saw a few Reddit posts with the founder responding to the threads, looked into the stacked social website and it all checks out. I couldn’t be happier. Thank you to the person who posted the link in the comments.